Enjoying that winning feeling after Week 1

Ken Powers

Monday

Sep 12, 2016 at 8:57 AM

After waiting more than two months last year to experience the feeling of walking off the football field as the winning team, the Narragansett Regional football team in 2016 got that first win in its first game on the first Friday of the season.

After waiting more than two months last year to experience the feeling of walking off the football field as the winning team, the Narragansett Regional football team in 2016 got that first win in its first game on the first Friday of the season.

Some of the strongest roots of the Warriors’ 26-20 win over Athol Friday night however, stretch back to last season and the inner strength the team gained through week after week after week of — from a wins and losses perspective — futility.

“The No. 1 thing as a coach that you have to do, in my opinion, is you have to truly love your players and they have to know that you love and care about them and that we’re all in it together and we can only do our best,” said Narragansett coach Joe Mizhir, who is in the second year of his second tour of duty as the Warriors’ head man.

“If we’ve done our best we have nothing to be ashamed about.

If it means we win the game, great.

If not, there’s nothing else we could have done.

“As a coach you continue to emphasize that there are so many lessons that you learn in the game of life by playing the game of football,” Mizhir said.

“The big lesson for us last year was that you never, ever give up, despite how bad things may go. That was our mission, to know we don’t have to give up, that we stick together no matter what.

I think our kids know that I love being the coach at Narragansett and I love each one of them and I’m going to do whatever I can to make this a good experience for them.”

Keeping perspective and never giving up, despite how bad things may seem to be going, is a lesson Mizhir had to apply to his own life this summer after learning that his sister had died in a hiking accident.

“Obviously, you never want to lose a family member to an accident, but I think I’ve been fortunate enough to believe very strongly that we’re all responsible to take charge in our own lives and steer ourselves in the direction we want to go,” Mizhir said.

“Life is full of ups and downs and sometimes it may seem like there are more downs than ups, but, you can either be happy or be miserable.

“I think earlier in my life I might have had a different perspective when I found out that this had happened to my sister.

But, at this point of my life I know I’ve had a good life and that I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

Getting back to the world of high school football, Mizhir said the momentum gained from the first win of the season is huge no matter when said win comes, but — obviously — the earlier the better.

“When you get one under your belt early on it does a lot in terms of morale and having a little bit more fun,” the coach said.

“Anytime you win there is a different atmosphere on Monday when you get back at it, for sure. Everybody’s happy and there’s nothing to be down about.

On the other hand, when you’ve lost you’ve got to remind yourself to pick yourself up and keep going.”

As far as the way the Warriors won — take a big lead, completely squander said big lead, win late — Mizhir said he doesn’t want to make a habit out of winning that way.

“You don’t really want to have to do that very often because you’re playing with fire,” Mizhir said.

“But, to have a big lead and lose it and then keep your composure and come back and find a way to win, that’s a sure sign of strength and poise.

So, it’s good in some ways, but as a coach you feel like you should never let something like that happen.”

Up next for Gansett is Lunenburg, which lost big Friday night to Oakmont.

“Lunenburg is very similar to us — young and inexperienced,” Mizhir said. “Our marching orders this week are the same as they are every week — to try and get better.

I know we’re better than we were last year, but we’re not as good as I think we can be or as good as I think we need to be to be one of the top teams. So, we’ll just take it week-by-week and see if we can get to that point.”

Allard, Gardner enjoy that winning feeling again Four years had passed since Rob Allard last walked off a high school football field as the head coach of the winning team.

How it feels to do that, Gardner High’s newest head coach said, returned immediately.

“It was very satisfying; a great win absolutely,” Allard said about the Wildcats defeating visiting Worcester Tech, 29-20, Friday night at Watkins Field.

“I experienced the same feelings after Friday night’s win that I used to get after wins when I coached at Murdock, although Friday night might have been a little more special because it was me going back to my roots.

“The kids on the team this year are the same type of kids I used to be on the team with, and very similar to the type of kids I coached when I was at Murdock — tough, hard-workers,” said Allard a former Gardner High gridiron great and member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.

“Gardner kids have a lot of pride. All in all it was really a good victory for the school and the team.

I think it will really give the team a little boost of confidence going forward.” Allard said there was no game-ball presentation, no ice-water bath from the players in the locker room after the game.

The opponent ahead is Athol High, which overcame a 20-0 halftime deficit against Narragansett and tied the game, 20-20, midway through the fourth quarter only to lose, 26-20, on a late touchdown by the Warriors’ Dom Kallel.

“They’re going to pose a challenge to us as well,” Allard said about the Red Raiders. “They played Gansett pretty tough.

So, it’s going to be another challenging week and that’s exactly the way we want it.”

Work, not win, is Secino’s focus Two days after officially recording the first victory of his high school coaching career, Monty Tech coach Anthony Secino was fixated on the work that needs to be done to get the Bulldogs’ better, and to get them ready for Bay Path on Friday night.

“It was good to get the first win, it was very rewarding,” said Secino, who downplayed the accomplishment Sunday in the same manner he did Friday.

“I tried to approach the game like it was just another day at the office.”

Translation: No game-ball presentation; no Gatorade shower.

“We didn’t execute well,” Secino said.

“We’ve got to get a lot better if we want to beat the better teams on our schedule. It was a struggle for us in the first half.

We went down, 12-zip, and we weren’t playing well.

Our offensive line didn’t have its ‘A’ game, that’s for sure.

And defensively we had trouble in the secondary a couple of times.

So, it was an interesting day at the office to say the least. “For me it’s about getting us better,” he said.

“We have big goals and big plans for this season and the kids know that.

I talked to them after the game and congratulated them on winning, but told them that we had to get better.”

While the Monty Tech players are learning the nuances of a new coach following the departure of longtime head man Matt Sallila, Secino is seeing, first-hand, what happens when you become the head man.

The tunnel vision you had as a position coach now has to encompass the entire landscape of the team.

“As an assistant you don’t deal with the day-to-day stuff, the practice plan.

You just worry about your position and getting your kids ready for the game,” Secino said.

“The biggest difference I’ve found is how you have to be aware of everything that everyone is doing at all times.

What’s this kid doing? Where’s this kid at?

They day-to-day stuff has changed for me.

It’s a lot more of a workload.

“Matt did a pretty good job of keeping all that to himself,” he explained.

“I’m learning on the fly that there’s a much bigger day-to-day demand on your time when you’re the head coach.

Coaching the kids, nothing has changed.

But the overall team mindset and preparing things and making sure kids are held accountable, that’s what’s really changed for me.

“I’m still getting adjusted to it,” Secino continued.

“I’m lucky though, because I have a great staff and they help me with all of it and they do the majority of the game planning.”

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